This Interview With John Wayne Gacy Is Deeply Unsettling…He Seems So Normal

Most people don’t know it, but long before he became a murderous psychopath who stored the bodies of his victims under his house, John Wayne Gacy spent time in prison in the late 1960s for sexually assaulting a teenage boy. On December 3, 1968, Gacy was sentenced to 10 years at Anamosa State Penitentiary in Anamosa, Iowa.

Gacy only served 18 months of his sentence before being granted parole. He was released on June 18, 1970. Before he was let out, the soon-to-be murderer was interviewed as part of a local television special about Christmas in prison back in 1969. In it, Gacy talks to the reporter about life in prison, his role as a cook, and what he and the other inmates planned to do on Christmas Day.

While not disturbing per se, it’s a bit surreal to see a future mass murderer talking so calmly about the holiday season.

I bet members of the Iowa parole board regretted their decision to release Gacy. In total, the madman was responsible for at least 33 murders between 1972 and his final arrest in 1978. If he had been forced to serve his full sentence the first time, it’s totally possible that lives could’ve been spared.